Washington Trip!

We absolutely LOVED our trip to Washington.  We flew on Alaska Air from Sacramento to Seattle during our vacation to California.  Best friend Danielle and husband Matt were such wonderful hosts!  We loved our entire time with them.  We ate fresh seafood everyday and are now committed to eating fish here in Texas at least once a week, as suggested by Ben (who was previously anti-fish).  We loved the weather and the tall beautiful trees- everywhere!

Uncle Ben aka "Husband Ben"

The kids call Ben, "Husband Ben" because my brother's name is also Ben.  He was the best during our trip to California with the nieces and nephews.  He played and played and played with the Nava and Johnson kids.  I didn't have a picture of husband Ben and Mackenzie, but brother Ben with his daughter was sure a cute sight.  Thanks Benny for being such a great uncle!

Prepared!

I have been VERY impressed to write a blog concerning "being prepared".  It might have to do with the fact that I now live in hurricane country, or that every news clip that I see on TV has me on edge, or that I just simply like being prepared (I call myself a "preventionalist"). 

We have the best Relief Society in the world (i'm convinced).  They have successfully given monthly workshops on being prepared and I have to honestly say our ward "cannery specialist" is inspiring and amazing!  Ben and I now have a month supply of food storage for each of us that we canned and packed ourselves at the local cannery hear in Houston.  We have up to date 72 hour kits and a family emergency plan.  We have a bit of water storage (not yet near the amount we will need- but we are doing our best).  I've learned about canning, cheese waxing, food storage accessories, 72 hour kits, grab and go boxes and the list goes on and on.  I have read countless blogs and websites about numerous preparedness topics and I feel like there is so much more to learn.  I write this blog encouraging all of you out there (which may be only one or two) who read this blog to check out the helpful websites I have posted on my blog.  They will help! 

Girls Camp 2010

Yes, I went to girls camp- AGAIN!  This girls camp was a new experience for me because it was in Texas and at a boy scout ranch.  Well- needless to say there was a  lot of the same songs and traditions that I grew up with, which was a lot of fun.  Some of the new adventures were:
1. Camping in canvas tents that are open at the bottom (rain and bugs enter at will)
2. Camping while feeling the rain of a not so far distant tropical storm
3. Eating from a staffed kitchen- which by the way I would have loved to have the Yuba City women cooking the food rather than the boy scout staff anyday
4. Waking up at night to help out sick campers or driving them up the road to the nurse
5. No camp fires- they just aren't allowed. (except for when it was raining and luckily the bishopric brought a quick fire log for our last night).
6. Sleeping on a cot (good thing because our tent let the water in on the floor)

Needless to say, IT WAS A BLAST!!!! We had a lot of fun and I wouldn't have changed any of it (except for my soggy feet).  I loved spending time with the YW and the leaders.  We all played the "cup game" and "big booty" enough to have the songs permanently ingrained in our minds.  I'm looking forward to next year!

Ben's Summer Job

I'm so proud of Ben dealing with the Texas heat and humidity 5 days a week as a "bug boy".  Luckily Ben and I both found summer jobs this year fairly quickly.  Ben is working for Reliant Pest Control, which our good friend owns.  He works very long days- usually 7 am till 9 pm as a technician spraying for bugs.  I'm grateful for such a great husband who is sacrificing his summer to bring in a little extra income for our family.  Luckily he is only working 2 more weeks and then we are off to CALIFORNIA!!!  He will be starting his "real job" in August teaching High School - 11th Grade U.S. History at a Conroe High (north of Houston, Texas). 

Let Freedom Ring!

July3rd:  I came home from girls camp and after spending a few days in a tent with me Kim still wanted to be my friend.  Ben and I went over to their house for a BBQ and then off the Pavilion for a free patriotic concert from the Houston Symphony and the Texas Tenors.  We were so happy to find out they give out free lawn chairs !  The ladies took a picture with the Texas Tenors (you may recognize them from America's Got Talent) while the husbands took the picture! 

July4th:  We went to church and then over to the Mitchell's for a rib dinner.  Ben and I made Cheney rolls for the first time and they actually turned out!  They may never be as good as Mom's but at least they came out edible.  It was so fun to be with great friends and their new baby! After dinner we met up with over 80 members (most from our ward) and watched the city fireworks.  The family I nanny for was at both the activities we went to this past weekend, so it was fun to see "the boys".  Jayce is on the left and Jaeden on the right (Jackson is not in the picture).  It was so nice to spend so much time with Ben after being gone for 4 days at girls camp last week.What a great weekend!

S.W.A.T

Youth conference was this past weekend and I had the opportunity to help both days.  The theme of the conference was Serving With A Testimony.  It was exactly that!  Friday the youth, and leaders, went to a school on a farm for mentally retarded adults.  The youth planted trees, gardened, built a shed and stairs, built and painted bird houses with the clients and also taught line dancing, flip flop decorating and balloon animal twisting/making.  It was incredible!  I loved watching the youth jump right in and mingle with the clients.  It was Texas heat as usual, but we all survived by eating popsicles and ducking into the air conditioned rooms.  The next day was a spiritual church dress day.  The youth attended classes and so did I!  We had a great speaker, Scott Anderson and an awesome Testimony meeting that Ben was able to come and listen to.  The youth are awesome!  Girls camp next week- here I come!

Blue Bell and Blue Bonnets

We took a drive, a fairly long drive, to see the blue bonnets.  Where there are usually fields and fields of blue bonnet flowers, we only found a few patches because we missed the window of opportunity.  We made the most of the drive through the Texas country and stopped by the ice cream factory Blue Bell.  The factory was closed, which we expected, but it was still fun to see where Ben's favorite ice cream is made.

Happy Birthday Stacie

Here are a few (actually all) of the birthday pictures.  Ben and I had a fun dinner with our friends the Lambs the saturday before my birthday.  Monday, my birthday, Ben and I went to a Lousiana Seafood restaurant and ate until our hearts content.  With help from birthday money from Mom and Dad Johnson we were able to splurge on lemonade, not our usual waters, and appetizers, entree AND dessert.  It was so fun!  The restaurant sang to me and our waitress was adorable (totally reminded me of bestfriend Danielle). 

A few things we ate: scallops, salmon, crawfish, shrimp, alligator, calamari, etoufee, vegetables, and bread pudding! YUM!!!

Iowa Mud Run

We had so much fun doing the Iowa Mud Run while with family and friends!  We ran crawled through plastic tunnels, stepped in tires, ran up a BIG hill, and ran through many mud pits on this 3 mile run.  Luckily I ran with the girls, which was right at my pace and Ben ran with the manly men at a much faster speed.  They attacked us at the end of the course, but the funny thing is that the second before they attacked us we already were diving in the mud.  Did I mention it was below 50 degrees, and this Californian/Texan isn't used to that kind of cold.